Google expands Gemini in Chrome, adds AI tools across suite

Gemini arrives in Chrome across Asia‑Pacific

Google enabled Gemini in Chrome for Australia, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Vietnam. The rollout covers desktop browsers and iOS devices, except for Japan where iOS support is not yet active. The move follows a broader push to embed the Gemini model in Google products. Chrome users in the listed countries will see AI‑powered suggestions while browsing, a capability the company hinted will expand early next year. The feature lands alongside the December Chrome update that added new performance and security tools.

Chrome’s security and performance tweaks

Chrome’s December update introduced proactive Safety Check alerts on desktop. The alerts now warn when saved passwords appear in data breaches, when extensions show risky behavior, when the browser version is out of date, or when site permissions sit idle. Safety Check also revokes long‑unused site permissions such as location or microphone access. It flags sites that send frequent notifications but receive little user interaction, letting users mute them with a click. Memory Saver mode received more detail panels. Hovering over a tab shows estimated memory saved when the tab goes inactive. Users can pin sites that must stay active, preventing the saver from suspending them. Tab groups now sync across desktop devices. Over the next weeks, Chrome will store a group’s composition in the cloud, letting users pick up a research session on a different machine without rebuilding the layout. These changes arrive as Google prepares to layer Gemini‑driven features on top of Chrome’s core. The company promises smarter suggestions, but the immediate benefit is a tighter safety net for everyday browsing.

Assistant and productivity suite get developer tools

Google Assistant gained language support for Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Indian English. Developers can now publish apps that understand these locales without extra translation layers. A new hand‑off capability lets a Home device pass a request to a paired phone. For example, a voice command to order a sandwich on a smart speaker can be completed on the phone’s payment app. Assistant also learns implicit requests. Users can say “turn off the lights” and the system will route the command to the appropriate lighting app without naming it. The companion app now surfaces “What’s new” and “What’s trending” sections, making it easier to discover fresh integrations. In the productivity arena, Google Docs, Sheets and Slides received version‑tracking enhancements. Users can now save multiple named versions of a file, simplifying archival of canonical drafts. Google Cloud Search integration lets Business and Enterprise users launch searches from inside Docs or Slides, eliminating the need to open a separate search pane. One‑click accept or reject of all suggestions streamlines bulk review. New add‑ons from Litera Change‑Pro and Workshare expand document comparison capabilities. Mobile editors on Android and iOS can now suggest changes directly, a feature that was missing from earlier releases.

Accessibility pushes with Lookout and Maps

Google’s Lookout app introduced an Image Q&A mode in closed beta. The mode lets blind and low‑vision users ask natural‑language questions about an image, even when the image lacks alt text. The feature runs on a visual language model from DeepMind. Colin Murdoch, Google DeepMind chief business officer, said the collaboration shows how multimodal models can directly benefit lives. The rollout follows internal testing with the Royal National Institute of Blind People and will expand to more participants soon. Maps updated its wheelchair‑accessibility icon to be visible to all users. The change lets anyone see step‑free entrances, seating, parking or restrooms in the “About” tab. Google reports that contributions from business owners, Local Guides and the Maps community have added accessibility data for over 40 million places. These accessibility upgrades sit alongside the broader AI rollout, highlighting Google’s effort to apply Gemini‑level models to both mainstream and underserved user groups.

What to watch

Watch for Gemini’s expansion beyond the initial seven markets. Google has hinted at a global rollout early next year, and the next batch of countries will reveal how the model scales across different regulatory environments. Track the adoption of Lookout Image Q&A as it moves from beta to public release; user feedback will shape the feature’s accuracy and privacy safeguards. Finally, monitor how developers leverage the new Assistant language support and hand‑off APIs—early integrations could set the tone for cross‑device AI workflows in 2025.

Updates

• 2026-05-08 — Pixelated 099: Should we be worried about the Pixel 11? (source)
• 2026-04-28 — Google Translate can now help you with pronunciation (source)
• 2026-04-23 — Rednote Draws a Line Between China and the World (source)